LEONARD H. DELANO was born in Seattle, Washington, on August 30, 1908; except for four years in Alaska (including two years with the Islander raising), he lived in Oregon. While in Alaska he worked as a motion picture cameraman for the 1938 movie Call of the Yukon.

After returning to Oregon, he did newsreel work using a 35mm motion picture camera and worked as a reporter for the Oregonian and the Oregon Journal. Leonard attended Benson Tech High School in Portland and was a member of the University of Oregon class of 1930, majoring in geology and journalism. He began working for Brubaker Aerial Surveys while learning photogrammetry. He eventually bought the company as well as several other photographic businesses, all operating as Delano Photographics and Western Mapping Company in Portland.

He retired in 1983 after working 48 years in commercial photography and photogrammetry mapping. He accumulated a large collection of historical photographs and continued to be interested in the Geological Society of the Oregon Country. Often he was asked to speak on illustrated geology subjects for this and other groups. Leonard was a member of the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, the Photographers Association of America, the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers, and the Masonic Lodge.

The father of two boys, Leonard often shared with them stories of his adventure in Alaska. He died in 1989 without realizing his dream of publishing his account of the Islander's raising.